Cell Phones in Yoga Class?

A few years ago, there was a controversy of the culture of yoga on a teacher who was dismissed from a business yoga course to discourage mobile phones during yoga. Hired by the company to provide a yoga break to the employees, the teacher launched an disapproving look when this first row student interrupted the practice to exploit a text in the middle of the class. Apparently, the dirty look was enough to make the teacher turn.

Whether or not you approve of mobile phones during yoga, I suppose that a company hiring a teacher has the right to let this teacher leave if she does not respect her rules. Fairly fair.

Likewise, a teacher has the right to define parameters on a whole range of students’ behaviors, in particular by authorizing or prohibiting mobile phones, in his own classes. However, the situation becomes troubled when this teacher represents a business with his own set of rules. However, it seems a little strange that the teacher’s first response is to dismiss her rather than making her aware of their specific cell phone rules and to give him another chance.

Mobile phones during yoga

I sometimes appreciate being inaccessible. As an introverted type, I need Time alone, without the distractions of telephone calls and emails, in order to operate at my full potential. The idea of ​​defining my phone next to my yoga carpet in my home yoga practice – if alone in a class – so that I can follow my emails, my phone messages or my Facebook flows is unthinkable. When I practice yoga and meditation, my practice works better and feels better if I focus on what is happening in my body / mind in the present moment.

That said, I did not prohibit mobile phones from my lessons. It is not because I think it is normal for students to send SMS, speak or engage with social media during yoga. This is because my students are ripe and sufficiently attentive to understand that disorders with mobile phones during yoga would be inconsiderate for everyone in the classroom. I never have had To spell a cell phone rule. My students get it.

It’s never black and white

From what I read in the yoga blogosphere, this is not always the case. In major studios, people keep their mobile phones with them, are ready and respond. If it is the wish of the teacher and the studio – to allow mobile phones – if all parties know that this goes in a class situation, it is certainly their prerogative of achieving this agreement. It would not be a class that I would like to attend or teach, but it is my prerogative. We all have choices.

There may have been a dozen cases during my 39 years of teaching in which a student alerted me because she could receive a telephone call in class due to an emergency situation. These students have always left the play to speak and always let me know in advance. I totally agree with that. We all have lives outside yoga, and some things are more important than uninterrupted practice. Fortunately, my other students can drive with these situations.

If you are a teacher, do you allow mobile phones during yoga? If you are a student, would you like to be able to use your phone in class, or are you happy for the technological break?

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and started teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyding Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. His third book is entitled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Pratitioner’s Guide to Protect of the Hips and Avoid Si Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly chronicle for Catalyst Magazine and is online Yoga U publisher. Charlotte is a founding member of the board of directors of Greentree Yoga, a non -profit organization that brings yoga to poorly served populations. Musician for life, Charlotte plays an oboe and an English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and the Sextuant Folk Red rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy Awards.